We have been having a great week of travel and we will probably be giving you a full run down tomorrow. Today's Mile Marker is a little reminder that life on the road is not all kicks and grins. I know we make it look easy, but there is some work involved.😍
We were cruising along I-30 in Arkansas and I noticed a slowdown 45 miles ahead on my GPS. KJo investigated on Google Maps and WAZE and sure enough, it was coming with no way around it.
We never did figure out the root cause, but it looked as if there had been some peripheral accidents as always. This is what it looked like to us for a long time.
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It took us exactly 30 minutes to travel 3.4 miles. Wow! So much for a good average yesterday.
Unfortunately, we were not finished.
Just as we cleared Texarkana, we topped a small rise and a large state truck was in the right lane. Thankfully, I was dawdling along in the right lane at about 60 while the left lane was speeding by us. I thought the large truck was on the shoulder and it took me a moment to realize he was in the lane.
I started braking, downshifting and praying. Soon I realized I could not slow down in time. There was no option in the left lane. The traffic was way too thick to attempt to merge at all. I pulled right to the shoulder and found the reason for the state truck in the right lane. He was protecting a truck with a small trailer that was cleaning the shoulder.
I seriously considered the grass embankment but decided to hold off until the last moment. When I stopped on the shoulder, I was next to the big truck and right behind the trailer loaded with road garbage. Whew! That was way too close.
Then I looked behind me and saw the speeding traffic coming over the hill trying to avoid all of us. It is a wonder there was no accident.
Less than 20 minutes later, we were in another slowdown. This one was caused by construction. This slowdown lasted 23 minutes and exactly 2 miles. We came to an exit with a detour we could utilize and jumped off. Otherwise, we might still be there.
You are going to love what happened at the end of the day. I will share that with you tomorrow. It is hilarious.
I know we are always talking about Mexican food, buffets, revivals and good times, but road life is more than fun and games. Yesterday was a dose of reality. I apologize if we make it look too easy.
Thank you for tuning in today.
Davy
